It is a big sky and all around the wind is blowing.
There is not a cloud in the sky and all around the edge of this island
the sea is lapping and pushing and crashing.
I close my eyes. The desk and keyboard and stacks
disappear and I stand on a path and
listen to what the winds bring me:
A guitar strums,
laughter tumbles,
winter-dried leaves rustle, compression brakes punctuate
the reverie and the cold afternoon.
The cloudless sky is big, promising snow, and
all around the invitation sounds,
“There is not a think that you cannot do
because you can close your eyes and imagine.”
As I considered the weight of current events, I promised myself to live to the absolute outer edge of my capacity for kindness. My own personal response to the many angry words being tossed about and the harshness of so many actions, this very day, in our world.
Being willing to be EXTRA kind was like an invitation to sweet opportunity. Are these chances around me every day? It is aptly understood that we see what we expect to see…so today I saw opportunity for extraordinary kindness one right after another.
The grace in this commitment is this: extraordinary kindnesses were unexpectedly offered to me. Kindness must move in a circle! I wonder how your day might be inpacted if you invited yourself to stand to the absolute edge of your own capacity for kindnes?
The inside cover of my personal January Journal features a thank you card from my friend, Gina. It’s there to remind me how important it is to articulate thanks. Beginning with an internal attitude of thankfulness to verbalizing gratitude for courtesy, kindness, gift and actions. I have sent a quantity of “thank you” expressions out today. In light of the harshness of the news in the world, I see extending colorful thanks, in a variety of ways, as my own version of counter-balance. It is a simple gesture that fills me with some kind of hope.
I recently promised myself that once each week I would go through a drawer, a box, a bin, a basket…and re-visit the “stuff.” Share. Sell. Give. Re-use, re-purpose, re-cycle or (gasp, last option) throw it away.
At the bottom of today’s rather weighty drawer that has been sorted (see first paragraph) I was delighted to find a music collection that a friend of mine put together for me. I lost track of it about a year ago. So it was with delight I declared, “I wondered where that went!” and I’ve been listening to it all afternoon.
As my friendship has grown and deepened the lyrics that were so carefully selected for me are even more meaningful than they were when I received them. It’s a gift that has given itself all over again. Joy!
